The Bet || l.h.

- 1 -

"All I'm saying is, he had one hell of a fine ass," my best friend Kayla Lawson says as she shuts her locker, flipping one of her red braids over her shoulder. "With an ass like that, he has to be on the soccer team."

She's telling me about some hot senior she saw in the hallways; she's always been in love with half the guys in the grade above us.

I laugh at her, rolling my eyes as we turn away from the rows of lockers to head to lunch. "Leave it to you to know all about every hot guy in school."

"Hey, Lawson!" a jerk on the football team calls to Kayla as he passes. "Wendy's called - they want their braids back!"

"Real original, Chad," Kayla says dryly as she flips him off. "Don't over exercise the little hamsters running around inside your brain."

I smile as we turn the corner into the cafeteria. One of our other friends Natalie is already seated at our table, reading a book. She glances up when we sit down, scooting over to make room.

"Nat, I have to tell you about this hunky senior," Kayla exclaims excitedly as she fills Natalie in.

I shake my head with a smile as I take a bite of the sandwich my mom made for me this morning since I slept in late.

Our other friend Lindsay jumps in the middle of the conversation, setting her lunch tray down on the table next to me. "You know who's also a hottie?" She points toward the entrance of the cafeteria, where everyone's attention has already been directed.

Luke Hemmings, the school's most desirable fuckboy strides in like he owns the place, a smug look on his infuriatingly perfect face. A black beanie is fixed over his blond hair, a vintage band T-shirt clinging to his chest in all the right places.

Girls fix their hair desperately as he walks by, desperate to be noticed by him. The lucky ones will get to be another one of his hook ups, granted the honor of making out with him for a few hours. None of them will ever make it to girlfriend status, but they're all so desperate to have him in any way they can that it doesn't matter to them.

"Damn, he's like god's personal gift to the world, amen." Lindsay whistles under her breath, her eyes shamelessly traveling up and down his body, fixed on the lower half intently. "I'm dreaming of the day that I get to be the one who gets a piece of that."

"The seniors definitely got it going on," Kayla agrees quickly.

"You guys are such dorks," I say, rolling my eyes.

Lindsay raises an eyebrow at me. "C'mon, Emmy, you don't think he's even the littlest bit good-looking?"

I glance back at where Luke moves to an empty table at the edge of the cafeteria, throwing himself into one of the plastic chairs. He'd be a social outcast if he wasn't so hot and so many girls weren't itching for just five minutes alone with him in a dark room. As far as I know, he doesn't have any friends.

"He's not unattractive," I say, downplaying it.

"He's like the hottest thing to walk the earth since Zac Efron," Lindsay says as she keeps her eyes fixed intently on Luke. "And Zac was my first love."

Ignoring her, I focus on Luke, narrowing my eyes at him as he tips his chair back on two legs, propping his feet up on the table. A pair of girls giggle as they walk by him, but he hardly even seems to notice. That's the thing about Luke - he never seems to care. So many guys have lost their girlfriends to him, he's starting to become the Bermuda Triangle of relationships. But he's always slouched over in the back of class, gazing out the window distractedly while he stirs up trouble, as if nothing ever matters to him.

"And he's fucked just about as many girls, too," Kayla adds as she takes a bite of a carrot. "I walked in on Stacy Grammar giving him a blowjob in the bathroom earlier this morning and I can't get the image out of my mind. Good fucking lord."

"Eww," Natalie says, making a face as she reaches over Kayla to steal one of her carrots.

Lindsay tosses her hair over one shoulder, leaning forward. "I bet it was at least eight inches."

"Can we not talk about this?" I blurt as I press my hands over my ears. I don't want to hear them discuss how long they think Luke's dick is; they already place bets every other week.

Lindsay sighs as she takes a bite of one of her french fries. She frowns at something over my shoulder and points toward it, muttering under her breath, "Watch out, breakup meltdown over there."

We all turn to see Michael Clifford push a crying Cora Armstrong off of his lap, saying something harsh to her that we can't make out. Michael and Cora have an on and off again relationship that always seems to end with her bursting into tears and him making out with a new girl the very next day. But she's always quick to jump back into his arms.

Michael's best friend Ashton Irwin tries to pat Cora's back and says something reassuring to her. She slaps his hand away and storms out of the cafeteria, covering her face with her hands while her friends rush after her.

"And so another one of the school's biggest fuckboys is back on the market," Lindsay adds as she turns away, shaking her head.

Kayla flips one of her braids over her shoulder. "He's sort of hot though. The dyed hair is kinda sexy-"

Lindsay shoots her a glare and she falls silent.

I sneak one last glance over my shoulder at Michael and Ashton. Michael looks pissed, staring after Cora as he balls his hands into fists. Ashton says something to him that makes him scowl and bark something back. Taken aback by his response, Ashton sighs as he looks away from Michael. His eyes lock on two different people in the room. I start searching for who he could be looking at, but Lindsay interrupts my train of thought.

"You guys want to do something tonight? We haven't hung out in forever."

Natalie smiles as she pushes the rest of her lunch away from her. "Sure."

"What are we gonna do?" Kayla asks with a slight frown.

Lindsay just grins at her. "I'll find something."